(pole vault)

The women's pole vault may not be an event with a long and distinguished history, but it already has a major star.

Stacy Dragila has dominated the event in its fledgling years.

The American won the inaugural world title in Seville two years ago and then took Olympic gold in Sydney.

This season, Dragila has again broken the world record she has previously held. Her latest attempt saw the mark rise to 4.81m.

She went close to pushing it higher at Crystal Palace in the run-up to Edmonton and despite narrowly failing, Dragila looked in top form and ready to swoop for more gold.

Dragila, and her main rival Olympic silver medallist Tatiana Grigorieva, is the sort of athlete you may see on the front pages as well as the back during the championships.

The 'vaulting babes' have been the attention of plenty of media coverage away from the atheltics arena for their looks.

It is all a far cry from her early athletics days when her event struggled for recognition.

Dragila has recalled a time when even her own American team-mates failed to recognise her.

That is certainly not the case now.